The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-04-21
heir condition and circumstances.

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| dependents upon some other life, of
whose capacities or tendencies toward
good or iii they know little or nothing.
Heretofore the best gospel we have
known has been one Of giving. Who
ever had anything must give 1t away to
him who had nothing. That was the
highest form of piety taught. All the
good books written for children en-
bodied in one way or another the lesson
| that the child who had penny or a dol
lar, or some cake or candy given him,
should neither enjoy nor put 1t to good
use, but straightway find some destitute
person and give him that dollar, or that
cake, that penny or that candy.
This sort of teaching has created
armies of irresponsible people, of incap-
ables, of impostors. 1t has made beg
gary lucrative profession. Three small
fs-ignorance, idleness and intemper-
| ance-are responsible for most of the
destitution in this world, and instead of
getting rid of the causes the policy has
been to feed them and make them pro-
life. We are just beginning to learn
that to give Unfortunately Is to plant
an ever-increasing crop of paupers, and
that the only way to get rid of them per-
manently is to remove one of their worst
norance and turn them into thrifty men
and women.
One of the great needs among the poor
is good food. There is a wide1y-distrib-
uted organization of women the Women's
Christian Temperance Union, for the
suppression of liquor-selling, liquor
dealing and liquor-drinking. l wish
there was another as large for the sup
ply and distribution, at cost, in the houses
of the poor, of some simple, strengthen
ing articles of food, we'll cooked, of good
quality, that a woman going home from
her days work could carry to her family;
that poor, hard and overworked women
could send out and buy at as little cost as
they could buy the materials at the
shops, which Is perfectly feasible. Good,
hot soup, and good, hot stew, with
onions or tomatoes, a loaf of good, whole
meal bread, or a dish of oatmeal and
milk-these would be relished by men,
women and children.
The majority of poor women are to-
tally ignorant of the best methods of
cooking, of how to get the most and the
best out of given amount of material.
Besides, they have not time or fuel to
give to the slow processes-at least
they think they have not, though they
often waste more in their rapid methods
than would have been expended by taking
more time. This, however, is a matter
of experience and knowledge. The better
foods at lowest practicable prices and
endeavor to create by nourishment the
strength which Is often sought for in
stimulants.
1t will generally be found in this world
that it is of little use to merely get rid of
something; no matter how evil or dis
agreeable it will crop out again in some
form. Its essence still lives in the uni
verse, and is bound to make its appear
ance in some shape or other. The only
way to get rid of it is to create new
element by incorporation with some
other principle or transmute 1t by asso-
citation with other and more refined sub
stances. The highest morality is con-
structive, not destructive, for 1t is based
on true science, which knows that moth
ing can be destroyed which has an actual
existence, and if 1t has not real or per-
manent life it will die of itself in time
though it may, before dying, do much
mischief.
Naturally, those who have been long
suppressed, immured, make rush for
the outer air when they find the windows
open. 1t is so with women; they want
the outer life, the freedom, the participa-
tion in the coming and going, the being
and doing about them. By and by they
will remember the unhealthy conditions
of the state from which they came and
strive to remedy them. They will under
stand sthat newly awakened powers do
not lessen, but double our responsibility;
that they are still the guardians of the
home and its interests; still the care
takers and teachers of young children
still the agents through which the food
supply is made source of healthful
growth or of sickness and death. The
secluded lives of women have heretofore
made them largely foes of healthful san
itation. When they have learned the
blessings which attend the use of abun-
dant air and water they will utilize these
common elements, and drug stores will
be less frequent, patent-medicine makers
less prosperous.
When women once turn their attention
to their homes, in the broad sense, great
things may be looked for. Heretofore
they have given most of their attention
to charities, and considered Providence
responsible for sickness and whatever
misfortunes befell them. But once they
trace their ills to their right sources-bad
air, want of exercise, improper or ILL.,
cooked food, fretfulness, a spirit of COM
planning, monotony in mode of life and
ideas, want of occasional stirring up,
and others not necessary to enumerate,
they will 60 to work and remedy them.
Many women suffer from want of
change and diversity in their lives be-
cause they expect their husbands or
some one to provide it for them, and they
silently, or perhaps in words, resent the
dull routine which they have made for
themselves, or to which they submit.
They say "he" has the store and the mar
ket, the Office and the club, or gathering
of his friends, but for women there is
nothing, or else they shave not time" for
meetings. Now, If there is nothing,
make something But it must be a re-
markable neighborhood, indeed, now
adays that has not literary or musical
society, mothers meetings and book club,
q debating society or an association for
woman's work or art decoration. These
things are in the air, and break out every
where.
If your genius does not run in these
directions look about you and see what
wants doing in your neighborhood; have
a tea or quilting, and form a village
Improvement committee; find fault with
things in general; stir up tho dry bones;
insist upon cleanliness, order; upon nui-
sances being removed, trees planted,
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